


One Week Into School

by ArsonEmbre



Series: Senior Year [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArsonEmbre/pseuds/ArsonEmbre
Summary: Pence seems okay now. Hayner does not.
Relationships: Eventual Hayner/Roxas
Series: Senior Year [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1484090
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	One Week Into School

Immediately after school, Roxas walks down the same path that takes him to the backstreets. He tries to do everything he can so that he won’t get there too quickly. Pence and Hayner need to have a serious talk and he doesn’t want to accidentally interrupt by walking in when it’s still happening.

He would have gone straight home if Hayner hadn’t personally asked for him to come.

The entire week had been long and awkward without Pence actively being in the group. He would smile at Roxas and stop to talk to him whenever he could, but it didn’t feel like enough.

When he arrives at The Usual Spot, it still feels way too early. Roxas sighs as he grabs the edge of the ratty curtain, only to stumble back in fear as Pence comes storming out of it.

“Holy—!”

“Oh!” Pence smiles sheepishly and steps around him. “Sorry, Rox. I gotta run off, but I’ll see you later?”

He doesn’t look the least bit upset. His talk with Hayner must have been a really good one. “Yeah, of course.”

Roxas watches Pence jog down the street and smiles to himself. Good for them. At least there won’t be any weird vibes in their group from now on. He pulls the curtain aside and ducks into the hole. Hayner, who is sitting on the couch with his head between his hands, quickly looks up at him. Unlike Pence, he looks stressed and uncomfortable.

“Rox, I messed up…”

Slowly, Roxas slips his backpack off of his shoulders, drops it near the entrance, and crosses the room to sit next to him. “Tell me what happened.”

Hayner turns toward him and props his foot up on the couch. “I don’t know! As soon as I got here, I tried to apologize and he just told me to sit down and listen to him.  _ I did that _ . But Pence...he says he doesn’t want to be around me anymore. He says he’s not mad at me but he literally has to be if he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore, right?”

“Hold on, did he actually say he didn’t want to be your friend anymore or did he say he doesn’t want to be around you  _ right now? _ ”

“He straight up told me he doesn’t want to be around me because I don’t know how to be a good friend,” Hayner frowned.

Yikes. Roxas was sure that a sincere apology would fix things. Then again, it’s Hayner. Knowing him, he probably said the wrong thing again. Roxas fully turns toward his friend and folds both of his legs in. “Okay,  _ how  _ did you apologize?”

“I didn’t even get to finish what I was saying,” Hayner sighs. He leans his back against the arm of the couch, eyes focused on something that Roxas apparently can’t see. “I told him that I was sorry for hurting his feelings. He cut me off before I could try to tell him what he really meant to me as a friend. Guess his mind was made up before I got here.”

Hayner looks genuinely hurt, and Roxas hates to see it. He feels inclined to fix it. Hayner and Pence both mean the world to him, and he’d hate to see their friendship end over a thoughtless comment. Hayner didn’t  _ mean  _ it. Pence had to know that.

“Do you want me to talk to him? I could probably get him to talk to you again.”

The other boy shakes his head. “Don’t bother. I wouldn’t be a  _ good friend _ if I made him stay friends with me when he doesn’t want to.”

Roxas offered him a small smile. “You are a good friend. You’re not perfect, but none of us have ever expected you to be. Pence just needs space like he said earlier. He’ll be back.”

“I don’t think so. He looked pretty serious,” Hayner grumbled.

“I’m telling you, you guys are gonna be friends again before next semester. Just wait it out.”

Hayner groans as he sinks down into the couch until he’s laying on his back. “But waiting suuuuucks!”

Roxas rolls his eyes. “Then distract yourself. Instead of worrying about this, work on your resolution.”

“Hmmm...what if Pence tells her not to date me because I’m a douche? What if she already thinks I’m a douche and rejects me?”

“I highly doubt Pence would do that to you. And if Olette rejects you, the same applies. Sometimes people say  _ no,  _ Hayner. You gotta get used to that.”

“Yeah...maybe…”

The two boys fall into a comfortable silence after that. Roxas figures that Hayner’s either thinking or doesn’t have anything else to say, and both are fine with him. He props his elbow onto the back of the couch and leans his head into his palm as he picks with a loose string on the couch cushion. This is going to be a really awkward first semester for the entire group.

He’d love to know what’s going on in Pence’s head. Even if he doesn’t do it for Hayner, he wants to talk to him and see how he’s feeling. Tomorrow is Saturday. He’ll just go over to Pence’s house, talk, and play some games with him. Maybe they could help each other with their resolutions for the year.

Then there’s Olette. No doubt she’s already stressing about grades, college, and squeezing in a last few extracurricular activities for her college applications. He’ll have to set aside time to spend with her so she doesn’t drown herself in work and go insane. If she has the time to spare, that is. Last he heard, she had already signed herself up as a tutor in case anyone needed extra help throughout the year.

Looking at all of the things his friends hope to accomplish makes his own goal for the year seem so...lackluster. Olette is working hard, Pence is finding his own thing, Hayner wants a relationship, and Roxas wants to find a silly little ice cream stick. Other than that, there’s not much else he wants to accomplish for the year. That kind of sucks.

“Thanks.”

Roxas looks up from the cushion just as Hayner begins to sit up again. “For what?”

“For being a friend, man. You were right. I need to distract myself with something so I’m not all mopey. I say we go get some ice cream and look for your Winner stick.”

“I don’t know,” Roxas mumbles. “Probably gonna change my resolution.”

“What? Why? You were so excited about it when you first told us and it got me excited to help you look for it. Don’t change it. You can just find another resolution when you finish it.”

That’s a great idea. Instead of spending the whole year on one resolution, he can have multiple. It’ll give him something to look forward to while he waits to graduate. “You’re right. What if I make that my main resolution and have a bunch of other, smaller ones for the year?”

“You can! We both can, dude, let’s do that.”

With an excited grin, Roxas hops up from the couch to get his bag and pulls out a sheet of paper and a pen.

**Roxas + Hayner’s Other Resolutions**

**H: Do a kickflip, ace a math test...do something else crazy?**

**R: Wear a fedora, go somewhere by myself, force myself to watch Sierra Burgess is a Loser**


End file.
